Search results for

Merrill Lynch raised ¥83.12bn for Sanwa Bank on Tuesday through the sale of in-the-money preference shares convertible into shares of UFJ Holdings, the holding company for the merged Sanwa Bank, Tokai Bank and Toyo Trust & Banking. Toyo Trust & Banking originally issued the convertible preference shares to Sanwa in March 1999. That issue was at par, had a maturity of August 1, 2014, raised ¥80bn, and allowed investors to convert into Toyo stock at ¥710,900 per share. Merrill Lynch has resold them for Sanwa through this 144A/Reg.S transaction.

The Mirvac Group of Australian property trusts completed its A$500m securitisation this week - a deal that is more than twice as large as any previous commercial property backed issue in Australia. The transaction is backed by a diverse portfolio of 26 properties, valued by Standard & Poor's (S&P) at A$1.25bn, which include office, industrial, retail, hotel and car parking assets.

* AIG SunAmerica Institutional Funding II Rating: Aaa/AAA

Pemex took advantage of a strong high grade US bond market yesterday (Thursday) to re-open its 9.125% 2010 bond issue first launched in October for another $500m, taking the deal to $1bn. The re-opening, led by Lehman Brothers, was priced aggressively at 102.648 to yield 8.702%, or 328bp over Treasuries, in the middle of the 325bp-350bp spread talk announced on Wednesday. The spread is 25bp back from Mexico's 2010 globals and 33bp wide of the more widely used benchmark 2011 global bond.

After an absence of over two years, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) looks set to return to the international debt capital market and could be followed by state utility National Power Corp (Napocor)with an international bond issue. Bankers believe PLDT has selected Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB) and HSBC to lead manage a $500m international bond issue, while Napocor has issued requests for proposal (RFP) for a potential $100m-$400m three year issue.

* Vorarlberger Landes- und Hypothekenbank Guarantor: Deficiency guarantee from Land Vorarlberg

Finland UPM-Kymmene is thought to be taking bids on a Eu2.5bn facility. Several banks are circling the mandate, which is backing the company's planned purchase of Germany's largest paper maker Haindl. The acquisition will make the company Europe's largest producer of publication papers - UPM will have a 26% share of the European magazine paper market and a 20% share of the newsprint market.

Craig Schiffer has returned to investment banking, six months after he quit Nomura. Schiffer joined Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein yesterday (Thursday) as head of international debt, reporting to Andrew Pisker, global head of debt. He also becomes a member of the debt management committee.

Siemens AG yesterday (Thursday) announced that it will tap the international capital markets for around Eu4bn. Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley will lead manage its multi-tranche offering, with five and 10 year maturities expected. There is speculation that Siemens will come at 20bp over for the five year and 30bp over in 10 years, while others expect 25bp and 35bp, respectively. Outstanding Siemens paper is tight and illiquid, but one comparable in terms of name recognition is Unilever, with a five year trading at around 18bp over mid-swaps.

Market report Compiled by Richard Favis, RBC DS Global Markets, South Africa

Standard Chartered Bank has dropped UBS Warburg and Lehman Brothers as dealers from its $3 billion debt issuance facility.

The Norwegian government has announced that it will raise between NKr29bn and NKr33bn (Eu3.7bn and Eu4.2bn) when it floats Statoil later this month - bridging the valuation gap between sceptical domestic investors and more enthusiastic international funds. Morgan Stanley, UBS Warburg and DnB Markets are managing the deal which will be priced on June 15. The deal comprises 437.9m shares, of which 188.7m will be sold by Statoil as a capital increase, and the remainder by the Norwegian government. The offering will represent 15%-25% of Statoil's share capital.